Exposure to lead paint is not as prevalent of a problem as it was in the 1970s but it still exists and should be addressed. The fact is that your children are still easily prone to lead-based paint materials that become airborne in the form of dust everyday, at least in older houses.
While there are basic precautions that can be heeded to protect your family’s exposure to lead paint, you may still be at the mercy of the elements. The article, “Study Shows Professional Remodeling Cuts Lead Levels,” written November 30, 2006 by Al Heavens and posted on Realty Times, explains how you can take a professional step towards reducing the amount of dangerous lead-based bacteria in your house.
“In 1978, with three to four million children ages six and under with elevated blood lead levels, paint with more than 0.06 percent lead was banned for residential use in 1978. And while federal efforts to address residential lead hazards since 1978 have reduced the number of children with elevated blood lead levels to 310,000 in 2002, that’s still 310,000 too many.”
The reality that the dangers of lead paint is hardly even talked about anymore because exposures are drastically down over the past 30 years may actually have a negative affect because people do not take caution against it as alarmingly.
Obviously if your house has been built within the past 20 or some odd years, you need not to worry about lead paint because of the governmental ban against its use, but many Americans live in houses that have had several owners or have been passed down for generations.
While many people have become in-tune with the new-age idea of using a specialized encapsulating paint on their house that traps the lead bacteria on the walls and baseboards, the lead levels will never be eliminated, and even more, this type of paint will not work on windows and certain door frames, where lead paint is most prevalent.
The Remodelors Council of the National Association of Home Builders has conducted a comprehensive research study that looks into the lasting affects of home remodeling on lead paint.
“The study measured the effects of activities like wall and ceiling removal, kitchen and bath work, and window replacement in areas which tested positive for lead paint, and found that the remodeling work reduced overall lead levels by more than 30 percent.”
The importance of protecting against lead paint is to find a way to protect your family against it now as well as in the future. When people had the lead paint removers come in the 1980s and strip the baseboards and walls from their homes, which proved to not be as effective as they thought, these people believed they were protected forever.
“‘The results confirm the benefit of professional remodeling in homes that contain lead paint,’ said Remodelors Council chairman Vince Butler. ‘We know that professional work not only lowers existing lead dust levels, but can reduce future problems by maintaining areas with lead paint to prevent deterioration.’”
Of course having your home professionally remodeled is not going to completely eliminate lead paint levels and you should continue to be careful when sanding or conducting other construction on the structure of your home, but if you like to ere on the side of caution, it definitely will not hurt.